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Why the UAE is Building Satellites, Not Just Buying Them
Why the UAE is Building Satellites, Not Just Buying Them
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0:00
Inside a clean room in Abu Dhabi,
0:02
a new space company is getting ready for its first real test in orbit.
0:08
Orbitworks is preparing to launch its first satellite.
0:12
You can only do this one time, and do it right,
0:15
and it means our credibility and our heritage is dependent on it.
0:19
If it works, it could give the company an early proof point in
0:23
the UAE’s push to move from buying space technology to building it.
0:27
Getting that first milestone where we have a satellite built,
0:31
manufactured here in the UAE, tested and launched, and be able to operate,
0:35
that's a milestone that I think is once in a lifetime.
0:48
The global space economy is entering a new era.
0:53
Satellites are becoming smaller, cheaper, and more capable, powering everything from
0:58
communications and navigation to defense and climate monitoring.
1:03
Aiming to capitalize on that shift is Abu Dhabi's Orbitworks.
1:07
Founded in 2024, the company is part of the UAE's push to develop a homegrown
1:12
space industry – and move further up the value chain from operating satellites to building them.
1:18
Orbitworks is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi-based Marlan
1:22
Space and San Francisco-based Loft Orbital.
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Marlan is affiliated with International Holding Company, or IHC,
1:30
the UAE’s largest listed company. I’m meeting Dr. Hamdullah Mohib,
1:35
Orbitworks’ acting CEO and executive director, at the company’s headquarters
1:39
in Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi. Our tour begins in what he calls the
1:44
company's "cockpit," the mission control center at the heart of its operations.
1:50
What exactly is the team here monitoring?
1:52
They are tasking satellites, and when a satellite is done with tasking, and let's say you want
1:58
an image taken over the Strait of Hormuz, the satellite would be tasked to do it. And normally,
2:04
with most other systems, you may have to do that through a manual operation. Here,
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once a satellite is tasked, it will do itself. It will maneuver itself, adjust itself,
2:17
and take that image and download it. So, we don't really need a huge team to do
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this work, but you still need a significant number of experts that can operate it.
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So quite literally, coordinating what happens in the sky from right here on the ground in
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Abu Dhabi.
2:33
That's correct. So, it's like a plane, you have to fly it, and sometimes there are
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collisions that you need to avoid, and there is debris in space that need to be avoided,
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but it also needs to be positioned. And what we have, which is our proprietary system,
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is what we call the hub and the cockpit that work together, is only one system
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that does both: flies the satellite and also tasks it and takes the imagery.
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The space economy we know is becoming increasingly competitive. So,
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let's take a step back. Where does OrbitWorks actually fit in?
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Well, we're a new company. We just started only about two years ago,
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but we have big ambitions. We hope to be one of the top 10 companies in
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the next 10 years when it comes to Earth observation and satellite manufacturing.
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The UAE is not starting from zero.
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It's operated communications satellites, sent the Hope probe to Mars, and signed onto the
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Artemis Accords, a NASA-led framework setting principles for peaceful civil space exploration.
3:35
And where are we in that journey would you say?
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So, we're not really at the start of it, but when it comes to commercial satellite
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manufacturing or spacecraft manufacturing, this is the first time we're entering this
3:47
space. This is pivotal because it's one thing to build something for your own niche needs. It's
3:53
something completely different when you're building for the wider market and trying to
3:57
serve and compete with global manufacturers, so that's where we are really at the start
4:04
of that journey, but when it comes to space manufacturing, we're somewhere in the middle.
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What's the biggest problem that OrbitWorks is trying to solve?
4:12
The biggest problem for any new industry, is how do we sustain it and build credibility?
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And so right now, while we have these abilities, we have what it takes to build the spacecraft,
4:26
but we are new. So, when we talk to customers, they want to see space heritage before they trust
4:31
you because it's one thing to be able to build something. But will it work? And that is, I think,
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the biggest challenge, it's the credibility in the space heritage that we need to overcome first.
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And so, what are you doing right now to not just establish that credibility,
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but to build it out so that you can be a trusted international partner?
4:51
Well, first thing we're doing is we're borrowing and partnering with a company
4:55
that already has that heritage, so we are not starting from scratch. And then, we have hired
5:02
a stellar team from across the globe to be able to build what we are building right now.
5:09
Orbitworks’ next proof point is Altair — its
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planned AI-enabled Earth observation constellation.
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Earth observation satellites collect images and other data about what's happening on the ground.
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Orbitworks says Altair is designed to go a step further: combining multiple sensors with onboard
5:28
processing, so some of that information can be analyzed in orbit and delivered
5:33
faster to customers.The first satellite is being readied in Abu Dhabi ahead of launch.
5:40
This is a constellation of ten satellites that we are assembling right here. We just
5:45
closed our first satellite, it went through the assembly and testing phase, so it just finished
5:50
the environmental tests, and we're finalizing, fine-tuning the satellite before we are ready
5:55
to ship and get it ready to be launched, and then we'll have four in the first quarter next year,
6:02
and another five in the second quarter next year which will complete the constellation.
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It's the first commercially built and operated constellation that the UAE has.
6:11
So, how important is this milestone? There seems to be a lot riding on this.
6:16
You can only do this one time, and do it right,
6:20
and it means our credibility and our heritage is dependent on it.
6:24
And so, we had to do more extensive tests than we would normally do to make sure every bit works,
6:32
and even then, we don't know if everything would be 100% right.
6:37
But getting that first milestone where we have a satellite built,
6:42
manufactured here in the UAE, tested and launched, and be able to operate,
6:47
that's a milestone that I think is once in a lifetime.
6:52
Orbitworks' satellite manufacturing facility in Khalifa Economic Zones
6:56
in Abu Dhabi is the centerpiece of its effort to build space hardware in the UAE.
7:02
Opened in November 2025, the facility spans 50,000 square feet,
7:08
including a cleanroom where its satellites are taking shape.
7:12
The company says it's designed to produce up to 50 satellites a year at full capacity.
7:18
So what you're looking at is satellites at different stages of their lives.
7:22
This is what we call an FM1, that's the first satellite that will go into space.
7:27
What makes manufacturing a satellite so challenging in your view?
7:30
There is not a lot of standardization in the space industry yet, which means if you are a
7:35
camera manufacturer, for example, you want to do your best to make sure that you produce a camera
7:41
that operates well in space. How it connects to everything, that's not what your main priority
7:47
is. An integrator like ours, now has to make that happen to say how does this camera fit into this,
7:53
along with all the other sensors and everything else I'm putting together.
7:57
Every satellite is different to the next one, so the first satellite takes us the longest amount of
8:03
time in this constellation because this is the first time we're doing all of these together,
8:07
and we have to also ensure that the satellite doesn't jam itself,
8:11
because there are so many communication points so all of that has to be taken care of before the
8:17
satellite is sent to orbit.
8:21
How many of your components are being built domestically versus being imported from overseas?
8:27
Right now, 100% of our components are being imported from overseas, and that's because,
8:35
we didn't want to take all of the risks. It's already risky enough to
8:40
start a satellite manufacturing facility in the beginning, and then start to also build
8:44
your components, because with every component manufacturing the risk goes higher and higher.
8:49
As we get more comfortable in doing this, the next step would be to start manufacturing some
8:54
of those components, and we have already started looking at one of the one of those
8:58
parts. The harnesses are already being planned to be manufactured here on site in
9:04
the satellites that we use, and that is going to be a process that we continue to build on.
9:09
Let's also talk about OrbitWorks as a mass manufacturer of satellites. What
9:14
do you think that will ultimately mean in practice? What's the end goal here?
9:19
We hope to be able to fulfill all of the domestic needs here in the in the UAE,
9:23
and then in the broader GCC, but then expand from that to supply customers far and wide,
9:30
Africa, Southeast Asia, all of the places that have satellite needs,
9:35
or spacecraft needs, but they don't have their own capacity to build, and for them
9:40
we can be their first stop at their services. So, this is really an export-driven business.
9:46
Orbitworks is entering a crowded market.
9:49
It faces competition from aerospace heavyweights
9:52
like Airbus Defence & Space, Thales Alenia Space and OHB.
9:57
It is also up against specialist small-satellite manufacturers and integrators, including York
10:03
Space Systems, Terran Orbital — now part of Lockheed Martin — and Kongsberg NanoAvionics.
10:09
Many of those companies already have what Orbitworks is still trying to build:
10:14
flight heritage, mature supply chains and customer trust.
10:18
Orbitworks says one way it’s trying to shorten the learning curve is through
10:22
its U.S. partner, Loft Orbital — a space infrastructure company founded in 2017.
10:28
When you speak to these customers, where do they still need some convincing?
10:34
Much of it is understanding. Let me say that most of these customers are
10:38
sovereign nations that we talk to, and they want to have their own sovereign capability.
10:44
The largest challenge is the ambition to help them realize what they want to do, but in the timeline
10:52
that they want the satellite in orbit. The biggest challenge there is the realization of the ambition
10:58
that some of our customers have, and where we think they should be, so it's bridging that gap.
11:05
SpaceX’s recent public debut raised about $85.7 billion, bringing new attention to
11:12
the space economy — and raising expectations for the industry’s next generation of players.
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Do you think it makes it harder or easier to raise capital,
11:22
because in a way, it raises the bar for everyone, right?
11:26
It just drew the attention to it, which means people are going to start looking
11:31
deeper into what space is. We are seeing interest in space, people want to come in,
11:38
and that interest is critical because this is where I think the maturity in the industry will
11:44
come from. The spread of investors will get wider. It's a wonderful opportunity
11:49
for us to start exploring with people who had previously probably shied away from this industry.
11:55
Do you see a future when OrbitWorks could be publicly listed?
11:59
I hope so. This is on the cards for us, of course, that would be a decision by
12:03
our investors and our board, but I don't see it as something in the near term in the next few years.
12:11
For Dr Hamdullah Mohib, tackling difficult challenges is nothing new.
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Behind Orbitworks is a CEO whose journey to the space industry has been anything but typical.
12:22
I also wanted to ask about your own personal journey as well.
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You grew up in a refugee camp, and now you're leading a space company here in
12:31
the UAE. How has that shaped your approach to management and your approach to leadership?
12:36
Well, for one, it teaches you to be grateful and understand that life is not straightforward,
12:43
and that hardship and challenges are part of life.
12:46
I think maybe I embrace challenges a lot more than other people and have the resilience to
12:52
cope with some of the upsets that you may face along the way. I think a big
12:56
part of doing anything so ambitious like what we're doing here is the risk factor.
13:01
If you want to be safe and you don't want to fail, you wouldn't start something like this.
13:06
That is where our advantage here at OrbitWorks is. We took a risk, and then the industry moved,
13:13
and the geopolitical environment around us also moved, which means there is more people wanting
13:18
to partner with us, than maybe two years ago when the situation was not as clearly favorable.
13:25
How would you describe your own personal leadership style?
13:28
I find the best people that I can, and then entrust them with it,
13:33
but I will often challenge what they're able to deliver and expect
13:38
more from what they're delivering, and often they surprise themselves.
13:42
What do you want OrbitWorks to contribute to the UAE in the next decade?
13:47
We started with this ambition that we want to be an exporter of space tech
13:52
rather than being an importer. It will take us some time to fully realize that dream,
13:56
because what we're building here is still at an early stage, and it will maybe take decades to
14:02
arrive at that ambition. But I hope that we're laying the foundations for achieving that goal.
14:08
And in the next 10 years, I would love for Orbitworks to see the majority of that dream,
14:15
and I want to do that for a personal reason. This country hosted me at a time when
14:20
I lost my own home. This is a mission for me to try to contribute to this wonderful country and
14:27
these wonderful people who were very generous and very hospitable and very caring during
14:33
a very difficult time in my own personal life, because this is not just my dream,
14:37
it's the dream of the Emiratis. The UAE has this ambition, and I am very grateful and fortunate
14:43
to be able to have an opportunity to try to meet some of that ambition.
